Evening Video | Mark Knopfler

The always amazing Mark Knopfler on GMTV with "Punish The Monkey":



This song sounds hauntingly like something from the Dire Straits; "Dire Straits" album.

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Happenings In The Campaign

Superdelegates Turned Down $1 Million Offer From Clinton Donor

Clinton Turned Down Joint Rolling Stone Cover With Edwards And Obama

Warren Buffett backs Obama for president

Found at HuffingtonPost
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John McCain's YouTube Nightmare - "Straight Talk Express" Hits The Ditch

That "Straight Talk Express" Urban Myth meets YouTube and Brave NewFilms:



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DU's Top Ten Conservative Idiots

A virtual smorgasbord of conservative buffoonary with this week's Democratic Underground Top Ten Conservative Idiots.

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Frank Rich Says: McCain Runs But Can't Hide From Bush

A pleasant read. Frank Rich at the NYT.

McCain Can Run, but Bush Won’t Hide

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Hardly Working | Phantom Of The Office

Haunting the CollegeHumor offices:

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

I think I know this guy.


Linked.

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Senator Kennedy Apparently Has A Series Of Strokes

Senator Edward Kennedy had a series of seisures(strokes?). Was airlifted to Mass. General Hospital. Details still not clear.


Link. Link and link.

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Herald-Leader Endorses Barack Obama

The Lexington Herald-Leader endorsed Barack Obama yesterday. It's amazing to me that this campaign is still going on. Unlike many that doesn't really bother me. The Republicans are easily confused and it's like a tag team on crazy ol' John McCain. It's all pretty much wrapped up for Barack Obama though, and Kentucky(as usual) doesn't matter much.

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Democrats should choose Obama
Ill. senator suited to lead U.S. into future

"So, before Kentuckians go to the polls Tuesday in one of the last primaries, let's just pause to savor this moment in history: For the first time in 232 years of nationhood, an African-American or a woman will lead a presidential ticket.

That alone makes this election a hopeful turning point.

The opportunity for national renewal will be even greater if, as appears almost certain, Sen. Barack Obama is the nominee.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has waged a tough campaign. Her experience and mastery of the challenges facing the next president are impressive. So is her ability to connect with voters. She has emerged as a political force in her own right, outside the orbit of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Both Democrats are more than qualified to be president."

Continue.

Linked.

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Sunny Afternoon Video | Vampire Weekend

It's a nice and sunny afternoon here. I've just managed to get to the computer for a bit and log in. I'm off to check out the latest news and look around for a bit. Have a nice Saturday travelers..here's Vampire Weekend with "A-Punk":



Turn up your volumn a bit.
Just a bit more.
Oh yeah..right...there....

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Mitch McConnell | More Tax Breaks For Millionaire Horse Farms

Covering sick kids from poor families = socialism
Giving $70 million in tax breaks to millionaires = The American Way
-Mitch McConnell

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Running on Empty: Cars that Never Need Gas

From the Sierra Club comes more good news on the fully electric car. Electric cars are becoming competetive. Not only that but they're coming with solar chargers. Completely free fuel(once the car and equipment are paid off of course).
Here's more:

"There are hybrids. There are electric cars that plug into a wall and get their juice from whatever mix the electric company is offering. And then there are electic cars that are charged by solar panels on the roof of one's house. They never need gas, and the power is free after the set-up cost..."

Darrell Dickey with his RAV4 EV and daughter Kyra.

"Five years ago, I spent about $45,000 and got a brand new car (the RAv4EV) and the solar system," he says. "We're still driving the car every day, and the solar system will continue to make fuel for whatever EV we drive in the future. For $45,000 we bought a new car and fuel for the rest or our lives."

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Link.

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The Daily Show | Hillary's West Virginia Win

Jon Stewart shows us why Hillary won West Virginia(and probably why she'll win Kentucky).



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Astronomy Pic Of The Week

Wide-angle 12-hour exposure of grand design spiral galaxy M81 with M82 just below it.



Link.

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Inherent Contempt Citation For Rove?

Here's a portion of a letter I received from Congressman Robert Wexler(D, 19th, Fla.). Of course talking about holding these people accountable and doing it are two different things.
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Last night, I appeared on MSNBC's Verdict with Dan Abrams to discuss Karl Rove's outrageous refusal to appear before Congress regarding serious allegations that he used the US Justice Department to take down a prominent Democratic politician. It is alleged that Mr. Rove personally instigated the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman. The case has been criticized by legal experts, and 52 former state attorney generals ? both Republicans and Democrats ? have criticized the case and called for an investigation. (You may view the clip here.)

If Rove refuses to testify voluntarily and ignores the subpoenas that will certainly be issued, he should be held in Inherent Contempt of the House of Representatives.

No American is above the law. None of us should be able to ignore Congress without consequence. If Mr. Rove ignores a subpoena from the Judiciary Committee, then the House of Representatives should pass an Inherent Contempt citation and exercise our right to send the House Sergeant-of-Arms to gather Mr. Rove and bring him before Congress to testify.

I do not advocate this option lightly, but the reality is that Congress has few options left against an Administration that totally refuses to submit to any type of reasonable Congressional oversight. Congress has both the right and obligation to investigate these matters. Never before has an Executive so upset the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution. If we back off or delay, we effectively forfeit the power of Congress to investigate the Executive branch.

Rove is not the first White House official to ignore Congress. We have seen a pattern of refusals based on laughable claims of executive privilege. First, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers ignored subpoenas on the investigation into the firing of US Attorney Generals for partisan political motives.

Their refusal to testify was unprecedented: never before have executive officials totally refused to even show up before Congress. Bolten and Miers are the highest officials ever held in contempt of Congress. Unfortunately, Attorney General Mukasey ? in a dereliction of duty ? has refused to enforce the contempt decree and now Congress is suing them in District Court to demand compliance. Then, the Vice President's Chief of Staff, David Addington, refused to testify on the investigation into the Bush Administration's ordering of torture. Now, Rove continues this executive arrogance by also refusing to testify.

Enough is enough. We have a Constitutional obligation to provide accountability to a White House that is trying usurp the constitutional powers of Congress.

These are the very reasons why I have been pushing for impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney. The Bush Administration has been running roughshod over the Constitution for eight long years. We should not allow the promise of a positive election be used as an excuse to ignore our duty to investigate crimes that weaken the very fabric of our Democracy.

I thank you again for your commitment to the causes that we hold so dear.

With warm regards,

Congressman Robert Wexler

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Stephen Colbert Does O'Reilly

I know you've seen the berserk Bill O'Reilly video. Stephen Colbert had a great take on it last night:



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Evening Video | Moby Grape

Moby Grape on the Mike Douglas Show circa 1967:



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Cindy McCain's Tax Returns

At least the newspapers have begun to notice that Cindy McCain, wife and sponsor of husband John "Transparency" McCain is refusing to release her tax records.

"IT WON'T DO." That was our bottom line in 1984 when Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York, Democratic vice presidential candidate, balked at releasing her husband's income tax returns. Ms. Ferraro ultimately relented. It was our bottom line four years ago, when Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of the Democratic nominee, refused to release her returns; Ms. Kerry relented as well. And it is just as apt now with regard to Cindy McCain's tax returns.
Washington Post

Kagro-Kos.

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John Edwards endorses Obama

Obama picks up John Edwards endorsement. A bit anti-climatic at this point. It would have been a bit silly and way to late to throw his endorsement to Hillary Clinton.



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The Comedy Republicans - Their New Slogan

Passerby; You've probably already seen this little item, but if not you have to. It's the otherworldly, Onion worthy humour of the Republican party. They've got themselves a new slogan.
After having nearly complete political control of the federal government for- Oh..let's see, pretty much this whole 21st century(so far), their new slogan is, TA DA! "The Change You Deserve"(cue the trumpets)! That's right, the party of dubya, the most hated President in this country's history and Dick "Dick" Cheney have come up with a slogan for...CHANGE.
Wait, that's funny but it gets better, "The Change You Deserve" was actually stolen from the slogan for the anti-depresent drug Effexor; For the treatment “of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder in adults.”
The party of Rove and dubya reduced to stealing catch phrases from drug companies. It's worthy of the Onion. Almost makes me feel bad for the party of war, environmental degredations, skyrocketing budget deficits and soooo much more. It's good they still got the "Liberal" media in their corner.

Link
Link

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Miss. | Another Heavily Red District Votes Blue

If this keeps up I may begin to believe we can throw out the sleazy Mitch McConnell.

R+10 District Goes Blue: “It’s Like a Democrat Losing in Brooklyn”

Democrats picked up a northern Mississippi House seat in one of the most conservative-minded districts in the country Tuesday night -- an upset that will reverberate darkly through a House Republican caucus already reeling from losses in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana.

Continue.

This is where Darth Cheney went in(on our dime) to "help out" the Repub candidate. Thanks Dick!

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Bushco | Evil Is As Evil Does

These are seriously evil people.

As Atrios says:
It's like they saw everything that was decent and decided to take a leak on it.

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

It's like the Keystone Cops trying to run a dictatorship.

Related dubya news: I saw a small blurb on the Internets yesterday that Bush had given his "first Internet interview". Now I'm fairly sure the vast majority of the world had the same reaction as myself, Who. Gives. A. F*ck!?

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Kentucky | Always On The Hindquarters Of Progress

An interesting article in the Lexington(Kentucky) paper today. Hillary Clinton leads Obama by nearly twenty percentage points in a recent poll. That's not the scary part, the scary part is that either one of them trails this guy:













Crazy "Pops" McCain

By double digits right now if the election were held today. So at this point in time the majority of my (always)backward state believe that the last eight years of Bushco disaster were just hunky dory and they want more.
It really is an amazing state of ignorance, where the "sheeple" get their news from Faux and CNN and then curl up to watch American Idol.
It does a lot to explain why Kentucky is always the tail end of progressive ideas and why our economy, schools, environment, etc. will remain in the toilet and why we'll never be on the leading edge of anything. As with the latest state budget fiascos(Not helped by the Democratic Guv) my heart grieves for the Kentucky that might have been.

More.

Related:
KY Representative Ben Chandler receives racist calls after endorsing Barack Obama.

Speaking of the dead-enders:

"A successful conclusion in our operations in Iraq is essential...Hands down, John McCain is the one to see that through."
-David Thompson(R, Brain dead, Winchester)

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Happy Mothers Day | Love You Mothers

A quick Mother's Day Video. Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs with, "Eat For Two:



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The US Drug War Menace Marches On

Rarely will you hear common sense or actual facts regarding marijuana in the US corporate News Media. Unfortunately even the National left leaning Blogs rarely cover the subject for that matter. What you will hear are horror stories like these two creeps. Because those stories feed the Federal/corporate propaganda effort on behalf of the disatrous drug war. Here's a few headlines that should be aired and debated across the country but won't because of the ingrained fear of opinion and government.

Five signs that pot might become legal soon -- and five reasons why it probably won't.

drug war victims

Why is marijuana illegal?

Low-dose pot eases pain while keeping mind clear

Etc.

Most taken from the invaluable Drug War Rant.

Along with this funny bit with Tim Meadows in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.


Related: Here's a good documentary on medicinal marijuana, Waiting to Inhale:



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Trailer: FAUBOURG TREMÉ

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans.

Shot largely before Hurricane Katrina and edited afterwards, the film is both celebratory and elegiac in tone. Faubourg Tremé is arguably the oldest black neighborhood in America, the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement in the South and the home of jazz. While the Tremé district was damaged when the levees broke, this is not another Katrina documentary. Every frame is a tribute to what African American communities have contributed even under the most hostile of conditions..

Here's the trailer:


Link, Boingboing.

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